Asus P5N-E SLI small review

[james111]

It's been stated that the 0505 bios is a downgrade from 0401, so flash back it you can.

[stealthbomber]

Flash to the 0401 fixes it.

[PanteraGSTK]

Could this mobo break 520 fsb THX ( I'll be happy for max fsb around 500)
I am looking for something cheap and OC friendly for my e6320

The highest FSB I've been able to boot to was 514mhz. 510mhz will boot to windows, but crashes. 504mhz fsb is rock stable for me. This is not fsb board, but a memory board. Before I hurt my dimms I could get 625mhz on memory at 5-5-5-15 easily. It is a very fast board though. My S3 (same as DS3 from gigabyte) would top out at 528mhz fsb. That was 3d benchable. If I could go that high with this board, I'd never buy anything else.

[AMD-me]

Does the bios make a difference with how much FSB you can get? I am just using the stock bios that came witht he board and I cannot get more than 417 mhz stable.

[skootyloops]

Does the bios make a difference with how much FSB you can get? I am just using the stock bios that came witht he board and I cannot get more than 417 mhz stable.

Yes the BIOS makes a big difference to the overclock you can achieve.

[AMD-me]

Yes the BIOS makes a big difference to the overclock you can achieve.

I just upgraded to 0401 and no difference for me

I can't even break 400mhz FSB, this is horrendis.

[stealthbomber]

FSB walls exists for each CPU, my E4300 can't get past 375MHz no matter how much voltage it gets, you could try upping the NB voltage and see if that is the cause.

[AMD-me]

FSB walls exists for each CPU, my E4300 can't get past 375MHz no matter how much voltage it gets, you could try upping the NB voltage and see if that is the cause.

Wow, it still doesnt get any better.

This is a dissapointing first experiance in Intel. At least my crucial ballistix rocks, though I wonder how well Im using it since I have to use a divider to get 1 ghz ram.

[stealthbomber]

New 0602 bios on the Asus FTP server: ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/so...20SLI/0602.zip

I tried the new bios, same problem as the previous version, multiplier locked on the E4300.

[WeldZilla]

Just got my board up and running in a freshly modded case I am using a Thermalright Ultra 90 CPU Cooler . I used a An older IDE HDD that had windows and lots of programs on it. Just had to Call my dear friends @ Microsoft and make my Windows all legal. With G.Skill HZ plugged in and ready to go I fired up the first time at 400fsb just to check it out. I rebooted and fired again at 425. It ran just fine. So I rebooted and fired again at 3700mhz. That is 462 fsb for my little E6400. And it ran just fine with the mem set on the 1:1. Here is a shot.


Since this thing is air cooled I am just running it at 400fsb.
I have a 90mm side fan blowing it at my Northbridge and a 80mm
Blowing on my Memory. I have the Nortbridge volts and all others except CPU and mem running on Auto. I left them on Auto all the way to 462fsb. I am running my mem 1:1 with 2.156 V. and my CPU at 1.44V. I am absolutley impressed with this board!! I am going to go ahead and get it on liquid cooling
and pick up a 6600 for this board too. I have one 7900GT and one 8800GTS I can see myself getting another 8800 and trying out the SLI. My Southbridge is warm but not hot. With Northbridge set to auto it is hot but not near as hot as many I felt over the years!!!

WZ

[stealthbomber]

Crack that NB voltage up for higher potential FSB gains.

I think this board is ideal for budget dual 8600GT/GTS SLI setups without any known bottlenecks on the 2x PCI-E 8x config, you can pencil volt mod 2x 8600GT cards way past 8600GTS levels (900-1GHz GPU) even with the PCI-E power connector missing on the 8600GT cards.

I'm temped to get 2x 8600GT cards for around £150...

[WeldZilla]

Well stealthbomber I am just not going to go higher on the NB voltage cuz so far it just has not been necessary. I am pleased for now with everything about this little board. By the way guys I am running

Bios 401.

WZ

[zeeke]

New bios out, 0602. anyone tried it?

Changelog:
P5N-E SLI BIOS Release version 0602
Add USB 2.0 support under DOS.

http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...20SLI/0602.zip

[stealthbomber]

New 0602 bios on the Asus FTP server: ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/so...20SLI/0602.zip

I tried the new bios, same problem as the previous version, multiplier locked on the E4300.

It sucked for me, locked multipliers...

[ahpaul82]

Flashed back to 0401 BIOS,
able to get this speed.

[shimmishim]

so what is the max FSB people are getting with this board? i've seen a 505 screenshot so far but that's about it.

[[XC] DragonOrta]

About 486fsb is as far as I can go on mine.

[shimmishim]

About 486fsb is as far as I can go on mine.

stock NB or aftermarket?

[[XC] DragonOrta]

Mcw30.

[specofdust]

Mine tops out at 473 regardless of highest volts with an HR-05 and an 80mm panaflo strapped to it.

[zeeke]

I've done 513 benchable, think theres screens on that somewhere in this thread

[JoeBar]

Mine goes up to 475mhz with a Coolermaster Blue Ice pro on nb.

BTW has anyone tried 602 bios? I'm still on 401 cause i've heard negative comments about 505, so i'm a bit skeptical about 602 also.

[cholo777]

I also have the asus p5n-e sli mobo after reading many good reviews,i have an E4300 cpu which hits ann fsb wall at about 365 which i haveread is pretty common on this cpu - cant seem to o/c ram very well either,its got to either be the ram or the cpu not both which is frustrating - multiplier is locked aswell to x9 -currently using 505 bios- i suppose i better get back to the reason why i am putting this post up.
i have found whatever o/c i achieve-stable aswell will work fine for days but rest assured it will fail to boot eventually which seems weird considering it done it most mornings - even on small o/c's-
has anyone else had this-either wont boot or get that 1st black pagesaying unable to load windows press del or f1.
i have seasonic 600w so i dont thinkits power - maybe my mobo is faulty but everything works fineat stock - any ideas guys would be great-what is the best bios for this mobo-i thought asus was going to address the ram issues,wish they would - thanks in advance for any replys
regs
paul

[cholo777]

I tried 602 and lets say ability to o/c has been sacrificed as i had to go back to stock - so i flashed back to 401 which seem s to be the best at the moment
regs
paul

[PanteraGSTK]

so what is the max FSB people are getting with this board? i've seen a 505 screenshot so far but that's about it.

This is as high as I can go in windows. I can boot at 514mhz, but that is all. I'm still debating whether or not to go back to my S3 which will do 3dmark at 528fsb.